Estate: Townsend (Firmount)

Associated Families

• Chute
• Townsend (Firmount)

Description

Samuel Philip Townsend of Firmount, county Cork was the fifth son of the Reverend Horatio Townsend, rector of Donoughmore, Cork and his wife Mary Hungerford. Samuel's son Horatio lived at Woodside and married as his second wife ,Henrietta Margaret Chetwood in 1822. They had two sons John Crewe Chetwood Townsend of Firmount and Mayfield House and Horatio Hamilton Townsend of Woodside and Cordangan Manor, county Tipperary. At the time of Griffith's Valuation members of the Townshend family held land in the parish of Clondrohid, barony of West Muskerry, Carrigrohanebeg, barony of East Muskerry and Donaghmore, barony of Barretts, county Cork. Lands in the baronies of Imokilly, Barrymore and East Carbery, purchased by the Reverend Thomas Townsend of Summer Cove in the Encumbered Estates' Court were advertised for sale in February 1876. For more see Townsend Family Records at http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~townsend/tree/houses.php#donoughmore

Houses

House Name / Description	Townland	Civil Parish	PLU	DED	Barony	County	Map Ref
Mount Cross (H2967) This was the home of the Pearson family, held from Edward Townsend, inhabited by Mrs Pearson in 1837 and John Pearson in the early 1850s, when the buildings were valued at £11. Mary Pearson of Mount Cross owned 199 acres in county Cork in the 1870s. Archives relating to the Pearson family are located in Leeds University Library. The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage suggests the house was originally built by a Mr. Godfrey, a local mill owner, in the early eighteenth century.	Ardnacrushy	Clondrohid	Macroom	Clondrohid 229	West Muskerry	Cork	Lat/Lon: 51.92485 -8.99585 OSI Ref: W315 752 Discovery map #79. OS Sheet #70.
Woodside (H3187) Wilson refers to Wood-side as the seat of Mr. Carleton in 1786. It was occupied by John Carleton in 1814 and by the Reverend E.M. Carleton in 1837. By the early 1850s the house was occupied by Horace Townsend and held by him in fee. It was valued at £40. It had become known as Kilcrenagh by the publication of the 25-inch Ordnance Survey map in the 1890s. Donnelly states that it was burnt in May 1921 during the War of Independence when it was the residence of Ebenezer Pike. The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage notes that it is now in ruins.	Woodside	Carrigrohanebeg	Cork	Carrigrohanebeg 66	East Muskerry	Cork	Lat/Lon: 51.91326 -8.57846 OSI Ref: W602 736 Discovery map #80. OS Sheet #73.
Firmount (H3198) A Townsend family home, occupied by Horace Townsend in 1837 and by William Coghlan at the time of Griffith's Valuation. It was then valued at £14.10 shillings and was held from Horatio Townsend. The sale rental of 1877 records a fee farm grant of Firmount from John Crewe Chetwood Townsend to Arthur Chute dated 1871 and a fee farm grant from Arthur Chute to J.C.C. Townsend executed the following year. A house is still extant at the site.	Firmount	Donaghmore	Cork	Firmount 101	Barretts	Cork	Lat/Lon: 51.98822 -8.67988 OSI Ref: W533 820 Discovery map #80. OS Sheet #50.
Knockane (H3199) A house valued at £14.10 shillings in the early 1850s when it was occupied by Henry Ruby and held from Samuel P. Townsend. The original house is no longer extant.	Knockane	Donaghmore	Cork	Firmount 101	Barretts	Cork	Lat/Lon: 51.97299 -8.67091 OSI Ref: W539 803 Discovery map #80. OS Sheet #62.
Cordangan House (H4105) Cordangan was a Cooke family residence in the 18th and 19th centuries, occupied by John Cooke in 1814. The Ordnance Survey Name Books refer to it as being "in very good repair, the residence of J. Cooke". in the early 1850s it was occupied by Thomas Cooke. The property was held from the Smith Barry estate and the buildings were valued at £26. Slater refers to it as the residence of Horatio Townsend in 1894. In 1906 it was in the possession of Lord Barrymore and valued at £53. It is still extant.	Cordangan	Cordangan	Tipperary	Tipperary Rural 169	Clanwilliam	Tipperary	Lat/Lon: 52.45117 -8.13975 OSI Ref: R905 333 Discovery map #66. OS Sheet #67.

Archival sources

• National Archives of Ireland: Landed Estates’ Court Rentals (O’Brien), Chute, 6 Nov 1877, Vol 130 (8), MRGS 39/058, (microfilm copy in NUIG)
• National Archives of Ireland: Landed Estates’ Court Rentals (O’Brien), Townsend, 8 Feb 1876, Vol 122 (28), MRGS 39/055, (microfilm copy in NUIG)
• National Archives of Ireland: Encumbered Estates’ Court Rentals (O’Brien), Townsend, 4 Apr 1854, Vol 27 (1), MRGS 39/012, (microfilm copy in NUIG)

Contemporary printed sources

• GRIFFITH'S VALUATION OF IRELAND, 1850-1858. : Barony of West Muskerry, 46 (Ardnacrushy)
• GRIFFITH'S VALUATION OF IRELAND, 1850-1858. : Barony of East Muskerry, 43 (Woodside),
• GRIFFITH'S VALUATION OF IRELAND, 1850-1858. : Barretts Barony, 2 (Firmount), 3 (Knockane)
• LEWIS, Samuel. A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland. London: S. Lewis & Co., 1837: I, 355 (Mount Cross), 481 (Firmount)
• PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. Return of owners of land of one acre and upwards, in the several counties .... in Ireland. HC 1876, LXXX: 132 (Pearson)
• SLATER, Isaac. Royal National Directory of Ireland: List of the principal seats. (Manchester: 1894) : xxv, 180 (Cordangan)

Modern printed sources

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